Individually consider a job context- one you're familiar with and/or can get access to internal dynamics
1. Activity chart- a holistic overview of related task and roles.
a) Break down the job into five general tasks.
b) Break each of these five tasks down along the following criteria.
i) Purpose - reason/goal of task
ii) Functions - what's involved? why is this task necessary?
iii) Objects - what physical objects are involved, if any?
iv) Roles - what other people are involved, if any?
v) Links - is this task linked to another one somehow?
vi) Constraints - challenges, obstacles posed by other tasks/people/objects
vii) Issues - problems that may arise from within the task itself
Point form notes are perfectly fine - just listing in a table is fine too (the book suggests doing it in a chart, but that gets complicated and difficult to read.
2. Task analysis - a structured analysis of the execution of one task (flowcharting) that is problematic in the job. Tools like Gliffy (http://www.gliffy.com) are useful for flowcharting, but you can use whatever you'd like. Microsoft Word has basic flowcharting tools, but image management in Word is rarely easy.
3. Task redefinition- now, you fix the task you outlined in #2 - also in flowchart. Please make the solution to your problematic task feasible. And do consider this is process/task analysis and improvement - simply swapping out a slow technology with a faster one (e.g., a new computer or POS device) doesn't change the core process. The chart would be exactly the same, just with a faster bit. Flowcharts are process-focused. Think logically, as a computer would, about what steps exist and how they're logically connected. The human bit comes when you change the process - computers can't self-actualize their own code of course.
4. Provide a small (1-2 pages) writeup summarizing what you did and why.
Individually consider a job context- one you're familiar with and/or can get access to internal dynamics
1. Activity chart- a holistic overview of related task and roles.
a) Break down the job into five general tasks.
b) Break each of these five tasks down along the following criteria.
i) Purpose - reason/goal of task
ii) Functions - what's involved? why is this task necessary?
iii) Objects - what physical objects are involved, if any?
iv) Roles - what other people are involved, if any?
v) Links - is this task linked to another one somehow?
vi) Constraints - challenges, obstacles posed by other tasks/people/objects
vii) Issues - problems that may arise from within the task itself
Point form notes are perfectly fine - just listing in a table is fine too (the book suggests doing it in a chart, but that gets complicated and difficult to read.
2. Task analysis - a structured analysis of the execution of one task (flowcharting) that is problematic in the job. Tools like Gliffy (http://www.gliffy.com) are useful for flowcharting, but you can use whatever you'd like. Microsoft Word has basic flowcharting tools, but image management in Word is rarely easy.
3. Task redefinition- now, you fix the task you outlined in #2 - also in flowchart. Please make the solution to your problematic task feasible. And do consider this is process/task analysis and improvement - simply swapping out a slow technology with a faster one (e.g., a new computer or POS device) doesn't change the core process. The chart would be exactly the same, just with a faster bit. Flowcharts are process-focused. Think logically, as a computer would, about what steps exist and how they're logically connected. The human bit comes when you change the process - computers can't self-actualize their own code of course.
4. Provide a small (1-2 pages) writeup summarizing what you did and why.
Fun with flowcharts
http://www.xkcd.com/518/